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So You Think Your Battery is Not Performing?
1. What is using it?
There is a hidden menu we need to access. The next time it gets low after a charge
(not whilst it's on charge) open up your dialer.
Dial the following: *#*#4636#*#* (BTW 4636 spells INFO on the phone keypad.
Easy way to remember it!)
This will open up a hidden menu. Select "Usage Statistics".
This will show you what has used CPU time, how much time it's used, and how
many times it's called for it. If something is running away in the background and
keeping the phone in Partial Wake Lock, it'll be near the top of this list. Expect 'HTC
Sense' to be at the top. This is normal for my phone anyway. Usually it's followed by
'Settings'. If anything you've just installed is above these two and you've not been
using it much, there is your culprit.
Partial Wake Lock means that although the screen is off, something is preventing the
phone from sleeping and is churning the CPU over. Android should stop apps not
running in the foreground, but sometimes an app isn't well written by the developer,
or you have a setting on which is keeping the phone awake when in your pocket.
Any app or process can be force-stopped by you at any time. Menu> Settings>
Applications> Manage Applications> Then select the 'Running' tab. Find your culprit
in this list, select it, then press the 'Stop' button. Then either uninstall it if you don't
trust it, or wait to see if it tries to re-start itself to confirm its status as a Pain-In-The-
Neck.
Bear in mind you can make your phone fall over from this tab. Don't force-stop things
like 'Settings' or 'Android System'. Don't waste your time trying to stop Google Maps
from running either. It'll just pop right back up a few seconds later! Accept it.
2. Sort Out all Syncing Schedules
How much are you asking your phone to do in the background?
Press 'Menu' then 'Settings'....then select 'Accounts & Sync'.
If the 'News' and 'Stocks' have a little green sync circle by them, select each one,
and untick the sync tick box. The little circle should now be grey. (Unless of course
you dabble in the stock market!)
Next select the Google one. In there will be all the things it is syncing on your google
account. Unselect what you think you don't use.
Next select the 'Exchange ActiveSync' one (if you are using it). Are there any things
in there already being handled by the Google one? Contacts for example? Do you
even use Google to store your contacts? Do you use Google calendar?
Next select the weather one. Then select 'Account Settings'. What is the update
schedule set to? Set it to something like every 3 hours. It's more for window dressing
anyway, as Google's idea of what the weather is like in the UK is typically 6 hours
behind what is actually happening. As I write this my fancy weather widget (after a
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HTC Desire S Owner's Guide – V1.02 | wnp_79
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